Ereri week 2015
by ginnoryuu131
Summary: My contribution to Ereri week. I'm going to try and write a short prompt everyday. But I cheated and wrote day 2 and 3 on day 3. My bad. Day 1 - Pining Day 2 - Summer Job Day 3 - Catch me/Caught in the act Day 4 - Fireflies Day 5 - Mythology Day 6 - Storm Day 7 - Soul Mates
1. Day 1 - Pining

The sky was speckled with stars, bare of clouds, giving a beautiful view of the galaxy we live in. The milky way passed right in front of Levi's ceiling window, the perks of having his room in the attic. The fan next to his bed was working hard; its buzzing sound providing the perfect white noise for Levi to fall asleep every night, its wings giving him the perfect coolness in this hot summer night. He should be fast asleep by now, on his cool bed sheets, with his limbs slightly tangling out of bed.

All the conditions were perfect for him to have a good night of sleep: work was as usual, neither stressful nor stressless, but he got to hang out with his coworkers, and to finish his day beautifully, Eren - his beloved Eren - went to pick him up from whatever bar they were at and they walked near the lake in the park for hours before parting with a kiss filled with their intense feeling for one another. He came back with such a radiant smile that Hanji freaked out and took a picture and he didn't hear the end of it thanks to Mike, Nanaba and Erwin. He took a cold shower to get rid of the summer heat and got ready for bed right away.

Now, there he is, in bed, eyes wide open, looking at the summer night sky. He was certainly not asleep. He was restless. It's been a while Levi haven't felt as restless as today. He tried and tried to sleep but to no avail. His mind wouldn't stop going to different places and recalling different events that took place during the day.

They were mostly good events, and the one event that he kept on remembering was him and Eren walking in the park hand in hand, talking about nothing and everything. They eyes were stuck on the night sky, they sweaty hands felt disgusting - no thanks to Eren's high body temperature - but they wouldn't let go. They didn't meet very often due to conflicting work schedule and Eren's class schedule, so when they did, they usually indulge in one another. Then he remembered them stopping near the lake and looking into one another's eyes. Eren's cheeks were dusted with a red shade, his eyes sparkling with more stars than the universe, looking at him like if he was his most treasured being, smiling at him. He recalled his heart jumping in his chest, like on a trampoline, restless but in the best way possible. He was sure that his expression matched Eren's. Then they faces got closer, they hands intertwined, and they kissed, briefly first, then passionately.

He recalled not wanting to go back, he remembered reluctantly saying goodnight to his beloved and releasing his hand. Then he walked alone back to his apartment.

He turned once more in his bed to face the digital clock on the night table.

"2 AM," he mumbled to himself before heavily dropping his head back on his pillow.

"I miss Eren," he whispered to himself, ever so softly like the wind while folding unto himself.

"At this point, I won't sleep the whole night," he sighed. "I wonder if Eren's awake."

Truth be told, he didn't care. He would call him either way, force the boy to wake from his slumber and talk to Levi until the older man fell asleep.

And that's why Erwin found Levi in a fetus position, his phone stuck on his cheek that morning.


	2. Day 2 - Summer Job

The sun was high in the sky, the cicadas were singing their summer melody - annoyingly according to Levi, but Eren thought that it was just the music of summer - and Eren's frozen drink has all but water now after only 30 seconds out of the freezer.

"It's crazy hot in here." Eren complained to Armin as he sat on the wooden stair of the beach restaurant they were working at. He was waving his fan to produce a little relief but it was not enough.

"You… tell… me…" Armin replied, breathing heavily like if he had ran 10 kilometers but it was really just the sun. Armin never did well with the heat, and Eren kept a watchful eye on the blond, making sure that he didn't faint. _Not on my watch,_ he thought to himself.

"Go inside Armin, they put the big fan on. It's way better than out here. I feel like it's 50C under the shadow out here, I'm melting like a block of ice in the middle of the Sahara." Eren whined. He was better with the sun, his skin was already all dark, no thanks to his genes, compared to Armin's who was beginning to turn alarmingly red.

Eren stood up and pulled his friend to do so.

"Inside." He ordered while pushing Armin in the cottage house. "We don't have clients anyway, you should rest."

After forcing Armin to sit down far from the sun, Eren went back out.

"And ask Okami-san for some water. And maybe some sunscreen too" he shouted over his shoulder before walking back out to return to his "sit" outside.

Why was he outside while he could be inside, you ask? Well, he was waiting for customers, more precisely, a particular customer. This customer hated the sun, didn't really like the sea but like to watch it and listen to the waves. This customer loved walking along the beach at night when the sun was not burning their skin and the sea mist was cooling their sweaty skin. This customer liked to just sit in the cottage house and have a cold beer while their friends were out and running around having fun. This customer's definition of "having fun" itself seemed a bit different from his friends'. And this customer was Eren's most awaited customer, his favorite one. It didn't help that this favorite customer in question was also his boyfriend.

"Phew, it's hot. OKAMI, TWO BEERS PLEASE!" A client called as they entered the small beach restaurant, completely ignoring Eren on the stairs.

With a sigh, Eren stood up and went about serving the two clients that just entered: a buff blond man that looked like he came straight out of a bara manga and a tall lanky one that was sweating way too much even under this heat. Armin stood up from his seat as well and went straight to them with a menu in hand.

After bringing them their beers, Eren glanced at the wall watch: Noon. _Shit, it's peak time now._ Noon was the time when clients came in mass. What if he missed his most favored patron? Eren blamed this on them who didn't come earlier, regardless of the reasons.

Just like Eren suspected, clients began to come and the little cottage house was full my 12:30PM. The bar was full of lively older men and women, the tables of families or couples. Food were out, courtesy of Sasha, the daughter of the owner of the beach restaurant. Eren almost kissed Annie and Connie when they came to help them considering how busy him and Armin were.

The restaurant emptied out around 2PM, leaving just a few families behind and maybe one or two clients at the bar. But there was no sign of his favorite client.

Eren felt disappointment fill his heart. His shift was almost over but they were still not there.

"To think that he called me last night because he couldn't calm down and wanted to hear my voice no matter what. That bastard won't even spare some time to come and see me at work like promise." He mumbled to himself while floppily cleaning the tables.

After finishing his round of cleaning, he took a look at the wall watch again: 15 minutes before the end of his shift. Eren felt like crying. He didn't care that he was being childish or irrational, he was mad and sad and felt betrayed by his lover. _Asshole,_ he thought to himself, _he's gonna have an earful. Just watch me pick you up from a bar again._

He was ripped out of his vengeful thoughts when Connie whistled and called him, "Eren! It's your booty call! Go give him the best service of the house!"

He turned around, and there he was with his raven hair undercut, a white shirt open to give Eren a delectable view on those abdominal muscles and those clavicules, red shorts that reached above his knees, those leg muscles and those calves. All thoughts of revenge and disappointment disappeared and a huge smile invaded Eren's face. He felt elevated, happy - no, happy was too weak of a word - ecstatic.

"Hey," the raven greeted with an apologetic look, "I know it's like… - he checked his watch for the time - 10 minutes from the end of your shift but I couldn't get out early from work."

Eren suddenly remembered his previous disappointment but his feeling of happiness was too overwhelming to be replaced. He nonetheless playfully slapped Levi's arm with the back of his hand while pouting.

"I was tired of waiting." But his smile returned soon after and he dragged his lover to a table and gave him a menu. "Here the menu, sir. And what would you like to drink?"

Levi feigned looking at the menu, like if he really didn't know what he wanted but he already decided on drinking, "water 's fine."

"Water? No beers?"

"No, not today. I've had enough drinks yesterday to last me for a few days."

Eren chuckled and went to the back to get Levi's drink. The latter's eyes were stuck on Eren's receding form.

"Can't look away from our golden skin mermaid, I see." Connie teased him from behind the bar.

"Golden skin mermaid?" Levi asked confusedly, he'd never heard of that one.

"Yep. That's how our clients call him. You need to be careful Levi, there are a lot of clients who'd like to tap that. But the rejected them all because… well, he is taken. Right?" the young barman winked at him and Levi scoffed.

Of course he knew that Eren was pleasing to the eye, that's what attracted him to begin with and it was true that it was hard to keep his eyes away from the brunet. Said boy came back with Levi's water and waited his order, a beautiful smile on his face. _But he only had eyes for me,_ Levi reminded himself pridefully.

Eren's shift ended a little bit before Levi's order came in but Eren still served him diligently, and then sat on the chair opposite to him while Levi ate.

"You should have come earlier and see me work."

"Sorry, I really wanted to. I wanted to come early this morning and watch you all day but work suddenly came in and an incapable at work messed up with the datas…" Levi sighed, "it was a mess."

Eren hummed, he didn't really understand how his boyfriend's line of work functioned but he could feel Levi's frustration and tiredness through his voice and body language. Eren stretched his hand and intertwined his finger his Levi's, then rested his head on his other arm, his eyes trained on Levi.

"And are you free now?" He asked.

"Yes. I'm all yours for the night and of course tomorrow as well."

"I'm working tomorrow during the day, same time."

Levi nodded in acknowledgement but didn't comment further. Eren didn't need words to understand what that nod meant and that warmed his heart like a thousand suns.

" _I'll come tomorrow as well."_


	3. Day 3 - Caught in the act

Hand in hand, Eren and Levi along the sea shore. The sun was setting in the horizon, painting the sea with a beautiful mix of red and oranges of all shades. Above them, the stars were bright and the moon was waxing and appeared bigger than the night before, but just like the previous night, the sky was bare of clouds.

The spectacle of lights and colors in front of their eyes kept their attention as they followed the shore, basking into the silent presence of each other in bliss. Levi would have never thought that one day he would love someone this much. He never thought he was a romantic, believed that romance has died, probably never existed in him. And then one day, Eren came into his life, like an impromptu hurricane: creating a mess of his life, and "the workaholic Levi" was killed in that hurricane leaving in its wake the new Levi who was walking hand in hand with his lover at the beach. He let himself bare in front of Eren, hiding nothing but the blush in his face that was artfully masked by the red color of the sky. Surely Eren couldn't tell that Levi was blushing like a teenage girl going out with her crush for the first time.

"It's so pretty and calming." Eren commented, breaking the silence that enveloped them.

Levi looked at the sea, which coincidentally was in the same line of sight as Eren. _You're pretty,_ he thought but stopped from voicing.

"I like this," he said instead and was rewarded by Eren's toothy smile. God he wanted to kiss him. But he kept himself from doing so because of where they were. Yes, they could get away with kissing, but what he was thinking was more in the line of heavy make out and probably something sexual also. The sea shore was not the place to do so as the site attracted more couples at night and the chance of running into other people was fairly high. Levi was not comfortable with showing his private parties to the strangers and he probably will never be, he was not even comfortable walking around without a shirt on - keeping his shirt open was already pushing him to the limit. It was not because he was not confident of his physique, oh no. Not at all, he was quite confident of how he looked and knew that he was chiseled like a Greek God statue, it was more in the line of decency and maybe some self-preservation as well. Yes, maybe he was a little full of himself to think that if others were to see him half-naked - or totally naked - they would all want to sleep with him, maybe a little.

Eren and Levi just walked along the shore with a regular pace. They didn't have a particular place to go in mind, they just walked wherever their feet brought them. They had all night, they just had to make sure not to get pulled by the sea. The waves were crashing against the soft sand in a rhythmic movement. It was indeed relaxing to listen to the steady movement of the water and the feeling of the soft sand moving between their toes. The sun was almost gone in the horizon and began to get dark out. They were fairly far from city lights and seaside hotels so their only light was the pale light that the moon reflected to Mother Earth.

"It's getting dark," Eren noticed to which Levi hummed.

"Maybe we should go back soon," he added since his point seemed to not be clear at first, but Levi hummed again, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

Frustrated, the brunet pinched Levi's arm and the latter jumped in surprise.

"What?" he asked in a huff.

"Are you listening to me?" the young man asked irritatedly.

"Yes, you were talking about it getting dark and about us going back soon." Levi replied while shaking his head.

"Then let's go then." Eren pulled the older man's arm to the opposite direction to retrace their steps back to Levi's car, but Levi didn't bulge.

"Levi" Eren warned like a scolding mother, but the other still didn't bulge. He just stood there and watched the horizon where the sun disappeared.

"Okay, fine. You can stay here if you want and get sucked in by the sea or kidnapped by a mermaid. Look if I care. I'm gonna go back to the car." But Eren didn't move despite his threats. He really just wanted to provoke a reaction from Levi but the raven already knew all his tricks. Eren sighed and heavily sat on the sand, his eyes still on Levi. He eyes his hand then leaned against Levi's leg for leverage.

"Fine, what do you want to do?" Eren asked with a sigh. Levi smiled and looked down at Eren, his finger lightly stroking the brunette's hair.

"I was thinking," he began and paused for a while. Eren had to nudge his leg for him to continue. "It's getting quite dark." _Yeah that's what I said,_ Eren thought. "And there are a few trees over there. Quite strategically placed if you ask me."

Eren knew what Levi was trying to hint at, and he couldn't help but laugh at his lover's subtlety. But it was exactly Levi's way that swept him off his feet on the first place.

"Let me guess: you want to go 'explore' those trees, don't you." Eren looked at him mischievously, and Levi gave him the same look back.

Without another word, Levi pulled Eren back up and ran toward the trees, dragging a laughing Eren with him. Subtility or tact was not a thing in their couple as their mouth crashed into each other as soon as Levi was able to pin Eren on the trees closest to the beach side. Their kiss was hot and messy, their hands were searching each other messily as well, slipping under their shirts to maximize skin to skin contact. They lost said shirt fairly quickly. Eren's hands were all over Levi, his chest, his back, his neck then in his hair. Levi had a more precise goal and managed to drop Eren's shorts.

"L-Levi" Eren panted as Levi palmed him through his underwear.

Levi busied himself to kiss Eren's chest and neck, peppering the golden skin with love bites. _The golden skin mermaid huh._

"I-think you were right. I was kidnapped by a mermaid," Levi said between kissed then came back to Eren's mouth, confusion clear in his lover's eyes. "I was kidnapped by the golden skin mermaid." He clarified with a chuckle.

"Oh don't you start!" Eren rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what Levi was talking about since he heard the other customer call him that, boys and girls alike.

Levi just chuckled and proceeded unto kissing Eren's jaw while his hand slipped inside Eren's underwear, which elicited a gasp from him. Eren gripped onto Levi's arm while he was brought to the climax.

"Ah, Lev-i… I'm close." Eren gasped in between breaths and moans.

Just as Eren was cumming, they heard a rustle not so far from them. Levi hurriedly kissed Eren to silence his loud moans - much to his dismay, he liked hearing his lover's cries - and kept a cautious ear to the surrounding while Eren was coming down from his climax. The golden skin boy fell limply on Levi, his whole body weight supported by Levi's strong arms. He hadn't heard the rustle and kissed Levi's jaw intent on giving him his pleasure back as soon as he regained strength in his legs, but Levi shushed him.

"Levi?" he asked with a weak broken voice.

"I heard something" was the only explanation before they heard another rustle, this time closer to them. Then another one, and the rustle was not only louder, more frequent but it also multiplied.

Eren quickly put his shorts back, still sandwiched between the tree behind him and Levi who was intent on keeping him safe from whatever was coming to them.

Then the noise stopped.

They looked at each other worriedly.

"M-maybe we should go back to the car," Eren concluded and Levi agreed. As they carefully walked back to the beach, they hear a familiar voice from behind a bush not so far from the tree where they got hot earlier.

"Awwwwww, that's it?"

"I was quite enjoying the spectacle as well. I was kind of hoping for more." Another voice joined in.

"Should we ask for a refund?" A third voice said, this time a male.

"This is your fault Hanji." The second voice accused.

"Hanji?" Eren and Levi said in unison.

Four figures showed up from the bushes with teasing smiles on their lips.

"You fucking!" Levi raged. "Hanji, Nanaba, Erwin, Mike! Since when were you there?"

The four looked at each other and Erwin replied: "Since golden skin mermaid?"

"So since the beginning?! You assholes?! I'm gonna kill you!" Levi was ready to jump at his roommates but Eren's laugh stopped him.

"This isn't funny Eren!"

"I'm sorry, it's just... I don't know why I'm laughing. I just found it funny."

"Do you realize that now they've seen you naked?"

"Well actually," Hanji began "you were hiding us the good parts Levi."

"That's why we were hoping for more," Nanaba added, which made Eren laugh even harder much to Levi's dismay.


	4. Day 4 - Fireflies

Tonight was Eren and Mikasa's small hometown summer festival. The streets were filled with people and the closest they got to the temples, the noisier and merrier the crowd became. Mikasa was dressed in a simple white and pink striped Yukata with a pink grue on the side. Her hair was kept up with ornamental hair chopsticks that matched her clothing. She looked gorgeous to say the least. Eren on the other hand was dressed casually with his green short sleeve shirt and light brown shorts that stopped right above his knees. He did think about putting Yukata as well but he had no patience to pull the attire out of the attic where his mother kept it.

"Hurry Eren," Mikasa called "They're already at the meeting place."

They were his and Mikasa's childhood friends, Armin (him and Armin are practically brothers since they knew each other when they were still babies), Jean, Connie, Sasha and Marco, their classmates since elementary. They were all natives of this little town, except for Jean, who came from a big city when he was 7. They met every year like this for the summer festival since Eren could remember.

But this year was a little different from the others since he also invited Levi and his roommates to join them for the festival.

Eren said a quick greetings to his friends and made a straight line to Levi upon seeing him.

"There they go again, love birds." Sasha commented while making a disgusted face.

"Try to not get caught in the act this time, go to a hotel today. 'kay?" Hanji teased with a wink.

"Wait what?" Mikasa and Armin exclaimed in shock. Eren didn't tell them what had happened the night before.

"H-how about just going and enjoying ourselves? The festival has already begun!" He didn't want to explain what had happened in front of everybody, but he already knew that he would have to text Mikasa and Armin about this sooner or later. He just wished Hanji hadn't commented about it altogether. The culprit for his distress seemed to have the time of their life along with Nanaba and Mike. Erwin on the other hand looked like he could care less, but he really was just being polite.

At first, they proceeded around the various stalls in group but they slowly separated after a while leaving Eren and Levi by themselves.

"Today is cooler than yesterday." Eren commented.

"Yeah. But the stars are as bright as ever."

"That's why I like this town. The tall buildings are far enough that the sky can always be seen. It's calming."

Levi smiled at that and lovingly looked at Eren. He grabbed his boyfriend's hand and dragged him a little further from the temple into the forest.

"Not again Levi." Eren laughed.

"Idiot, I just can't stand people around anymore. Plus… we can't really be together in front of all these people."

Levi dragged him deeper into the forest until they reached the river that cut through the forest and ended in the sea a little further down. The sound of the stream coupled with the song of cicadas and the rustle of the tree leafs through the winds was all they could hear. They sat on one of the rocks near the riverstream, leaning unto each other and just basking unto the presence of their loved one.

This was what they liked to do the most, just be with the other. They didn't need fancy dinners (although it was nice sometimes) or even many words (Levi was not a big talker anyway), they didn't like to say "I love you" very often as they liked to show their love more through actions than through words so that hearing it when it was spoken was always a special moment, all they wanted was the other. No less, no more.

"I'm happy you were able to come to the restaurant today." Eren talked softly, almost whispering, like if they were sharing a secret that nobody knew. He didn't want to break the atmosphere around them.

"I promised you I will be there. And this time, I was there on time." Levi answered in the same tone.

"Yeah. Annie tried to get rid of you though since you wouldn't go until I finished my shift," he chuckled.

Then they returned in the silence again.

They could hear the sound of fireworks in the distance (the river was quite far from the temple), but they didn't move. Fireworks happened every year, and even though this was the last year they were to fire them, both Levi and Eren were to content at the moment to care for that. The sound calmed after a while and everything fell into the silence of nature again.

"The stars are so nice. I wish I could catch one." Eren picked the discussion up.

"You'll burn yourself up, stupid. Those are balls of fire."

"No, look Levi. I caught one."

Eren turned around to face Levi, his hand clasped together in front of him. And slowly, very slowly, he opened his hands to let a firefly be free. The firefly timidly flew away from Eren's hand to light the boy's face.

"A firefly." Levi whispered.

He looked around to see if there were more, and…

"Eren… look," he said, nudging his lover so as to catch his attention.

Around them were a curtain of little flying lights; they were everywhere, near the river bent, in the tree leafs, hiding behind flowers, in Eren's hair. Levi smiled and brushed the little bug away from Eren.

"We're surrounded by stars," Eren said rapt with wonder. "But the brighter star I see is,"

"Eren, no." Levi cut him.

"You," but Eren finished anyway, then laughed.

Levi felt a bubble of laughter bud in his stomach as well, and it didn't take long before the two of them were laughing, still quietly so as to not disturb the mood around them. After calming down, the two of them sat back on the rock, still in marvel for the beautiful spectacle nature offered them.

"You're also my brightest star Eren." Levi said ever so quietly and turned to his golden skin mermaid. He lovingly smiled at Eren and brought his hand up to caress the other's cheek before kissing him softly. The kiss they shared that night was not rushed, not heated, but it was slow, sweet, almost innocent and carried all the uncontainable feeling they have for each other.


	5. Day 5 - Mythology

One of Levi's favorite night activities was to walk alone around town. Although he usually has a set up route, today his feet brought him in Eren's neighborhood. The neighborhood was calm, a few houses still had their lights up but the majority were already asleep. The street was mildly lit so Levi could see his way through the houses. He eventually stopped in front of his boyfriend's house and considered texting him. Levi didn't like to admit it but he has a quota of Eren contact that he has to meet everyday, and today, busy as it was, he didn't meet this quota.

Levi to Eren: "Eren, you still awake?"

Levi waited a few minutes; a few lights were still lit but Eren's room wasn't. Maybe he was asleep, but when did that ever stop Levi from texting or calling him. Eventually, after a little over 10 minutes without a reply, Levi walked began to walk back to his house with a sigh. He really missed Eren but he couldn't be too selfish and force the boy to sacrifice his sleep for Levi (even though there were times he still did.)

Levi came to thinking that maybe it was better if they just lived together, that way he didn't have to always ask for permission to see him and he could cuddle with Eren even though the younger boy was asleep. He sighed again at the thought. Levi didn't want to rush in their relationship and there were more things to think about if they wanted to live together. Yes, Levi had a stable job and a stable income but he was still in the beginning of his career and Eren was still in school. He needed to wait, at least that Eren was out of school before talking about living together.

Levi was already a few steps away from the house when his phone vibrated against his leg.

Eren to Levi: "Yes. The door is open. I'm in my room. Something happened. Come, quick."

Levi read the text twice, his breath began to shorten and panic bubbled inside him. What had happened to Eren, in his own house? Burglary? Impossible, he was just in front of the house not even a few minutes ago. There were no suspicious person around. His phone vibrated again.

Eren to Levi: "Don't make noise. Mom and Dad are asleep. I think."

The fact that Eren was careful enough to not wake his parents meant that it was not a big emergency, right. Nonetheless, Levi hurried and entered the house as silently as he could. The hallway was dark and he didn't want to alert his presence to the house so he left it at it. It took him a few seconds for his eyes to be accustomed to the darkness but he managed to make it to the stairs without bumping into stuff anyway. Once on the top floor, he made a bee dash to Eren's room.

Eren's door was closed. Levi pressed his ear against the door but couldn't hear anything.

"Eren?" he called softly.

"It's open." Eren answered just as softly.

Levi opened the door. The sigh that he saw was one he would have never thought seeing, ever. Eren was on the floor, on his stomach. A relieved smile appeared on his face upon seeing Levi and he could understand why; instead of feet, Eren had a fish tail.

"W-What happened? What is this?" Levi asked in shock.

"I don't know," Eren admitted. "I was asleep when a voice woke me up. I thought it was Dad but when I opened my eyes I was surrounded by a bright light. When the light disappeared, I had this fish tail. I fell from the bed in panic and couldn't pick myself back up."

Levi nodded, the story was unbelievable to say the least. How many people wake up to a bright light and grow fish tail? Maybe not a lot because this was the first he ever heard about it.

"And I think I'm drying up." Eren admitted, "I need water."

"W-what do we do then?"

Levi approached Eren and helped the boy on his bed.

"C-can you fill the bath with water? That way I could rehydrated in it?"

"What?" Levi grimaced. "Eren, that's a stupid idea. I'll just bring you to the river. It's not too far from here."

"Believe me Levi, I saw it in an anime." Eren looked very confident, a toothy grin on his face.

Levi just shook his head but went into action.

"Whatever. I'll go fill your bath. Don't go anywhere."

"Can't really go far without legs," Eren retorted, moving his tail to emphasize his statement.

Levi silently closed Eren's door behind him and went to the bathroom. He turned the faucets and made sure the bath was warm enough. He went back to pick Eren up as the bath was filling up.

"OK. We need to be fast before the bath overflows." Levi commented as he picked Eren up.

"Has anyone ever told you to watch the bath when you fill it with water?" Eren wiggled his eyebrows mischievously.

"Has anyone ever told you you're a sarcastic little shit?" Levi attacked back, unimpressed. "Now let's hurry or I turn the water off and empty your precious source of water."

Eren feigned a shock and gasped, "Would you really let me die?"

"If you keep on being annoying, I may consider it."

Levi gathered Eren in his arms. Despite being the shorter one, he was a little stronger so carrying his boyfriend was not a problem. The problem was that his boyfriend's tail was all slimy and Levi had to internally fight with his disgust until he reached the bathroom and heavily dropped Eren into the bath.

Eren felt content in the water, doing nothing but splashing his tail with water while Levi sat at the rim of the bath.

"How are your parents going to react to this?" He wondered out loud.

"We'll deal with that when time comes. But I'm sure Mom will be happy. She always loved sushi."

That earned his a swat of the head.

"Why did this even happen to you Eren?"

"I don't know. Maybe I was cursed by those clients who come to the restaurant I call me the golden skin mermaid."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

They stayed silent for a while with Eren happily splashing his tail and Levi dozing off.

"Hey Levi?" Eren spoke up after a while.

"Hmm?"

"What would you do if I stayed like this forever?"

"What do you mean?"

"Would you…" Eren stopped himself, thinking carefully about the words he was about to say. "So, I'm not human right now right? I'm different. You can maybe even say I'm a monster. People get weirded out with what's different, they don't like it when things are different from them. So I was wondering if you would hate me if I stayed… different, forever."

Levi looked carefully at Eren who was focused on his hand, playing anxiously with loose skin. The lifted his hand to gently ruffle with Eren's hair and offered him a smile.

"It doesn't matter what you are, I'll always love you Eren." He confessed.

It was true that at first Eren's physical attributes was what attracted him, but the more Levi got to know Eren, the prettier he got. Now, Levi was not sure if he could live his life without Eren in it.

"Me too. I'll always love you too." Eren admitted and leaned into Levi's touch.


	6. Day 6 - Storm

The atmosphere that day was stifling and very humid. Eren had felt since waking up that the day was going to be strange. It all began with a few text from Levi when Eren woke up. The first one was asking him if he was asleep, past midnight. Eren just giggled at it knowing that Levi must have missed him and wanted to spend some time with him. Eren found it endearing and (although he felt a little bit selfish) he loved the attention that Levi was giving him. It was never too much but never too little. Sometimes Levi could be a little pushy in his way of expressing his feelings but never to the point of ignoring Eren's own emotions.

It was Levi's second text message onward that worried Eren a little.

Levi to Eren: "Are you awake?"

Levi to Eren: "Eren, check your legs."

Levi to Eren: "Do you have a fish tail?"

Levi to Eren: "Did you even wake up in bed? I don't remember going back home last night."

Eventually Eren called Levi as soon as he finished reading the messages to ask about the weirdness of the questions. Turned out that Levi had a dream about him turning into a mermaid and that it was hard for him to tell the difference between dream and reality, he didn't even remember going to bed on the first place, or even going back home from his night walk.

"Don't tire yourself too much Levi," Eren required anxiously. His boyfriend had a tendency to work much longer and take more workload than he should. Levi had explained to Eren that it was in order to advance quicker in the hierarchy range but Eren couldn't understand why he was in such a rush to go higher. Levi had a good paying job as it was, of course a little more is always good but he didn't need to kill himself to work for it.

"Tell you what, I'll pick you up from work tonight and I'll stay at your place. We can watch a movie or something, I'll make something for dinner. You just need to sit back and relax, ok. And no walk night tonight." Eren proposed.

Levi sighed at the other side of the phone but agreed easily, just as Eren has planned.

After that, Eren went about his day as usual; going to school, going to his part-time job, taking the train to go to Levi's job, pick him up. It should have been easy and straightforward, it should have, if not for the weather. The huge clouds began to hide the sun away around 2PM. Eren was still in class and didn't give much thoughts to them until he heard the first thunder around 3:30PM.

Eyes dilated and in panic, he shakily grabbed his phone and called work. His boss confirmed his fears to him; there was a thunderstorm coming their way and the restaurant was to be closed. Armin and Mikasa caught up with Eren as soon as they heard the news of a thunderstorm, making sure that Eren got home before it began to rain. They kept him huddled in blankets and watched countless comedy shows on TV until it was almost 7 PM. By then, the rain has already stopped but the sky didn't look like it cleared up.

"I need to go pick Levi up." Eren suddenly announced to his friends and stood up from his blanket castle. Armin and Mikasa anxiously looked at each other; Eren didn't do well with thunder and lightnings. He had a tendency to freeze then go into a panic frenzy, sometimes even hyperventilating if he was not distracted during a thunderstorm.

"We'll go with you." Mikasa decided.

"It's okay Mikasa. It stopped already and it's getting late. Plus, I'm going straight to him home from the office and it's not safe for you to go back alone." Eren insisted.

Mikasa was not convinced but Eren looked sure of himself. She let him go despite her best judgment.

"At least bring an umbrella with you, just in case. And if things turn bad, call me okay?" She instructed him.

Eren nodded at her and smiled, telling her to not worry so much. The three of them said their goodbye and separated in front of Eren's porch; Mikasa to go to her house (she was Eren's neighbor) and Eren and Armin to the train station since Armin lived a little further from them. The two of them chatted lively on the way to the train station where they separated ways. Everything went fine and Eren was able to get to the train without worry. He reached his destination and walked to Levi's office.

The streets downtown were always busy, especially at this time of the day when people are leaving their work places to go back to their homes. He reached Levi's office after walking a few minutes from the train station. He stopped in front of the office building and looked up at the sky; it was still darkened with clouds and he couldn't see any stars, but it was usually hard to see stars from the downtown area because of the tall buildings.

Eren entered the office building and took the elevator to go to the fifth floor where Levi worked. As soon as the elevator doors closed, he heard it: thunder. It was a loud one too, so loud that the entire building shook from its intensity. The elevator slowly made its way up but Eren was already petrified in the corner of it. The moment the elevator doors opened to the fifth floor, Eren ran toward Levi's desk. Usually he'll just wave at him and sit near the elevator so as to not disturb his work, but he couldn't think straight at the moment. All he knew was that he was scared and that there were more thunder.

"Eren?" Levi as his boyfriend's body collided with him.

Eren didn't say anything, tears that refused to be shed were sticking to his lashes and he hugged Levi as strong as he could, looking for the most contact. He knew he was safe with Levi, Levi was safety so he knew he didn't have to be scared in his arms.

"Eren?" Levi asked again, confused and anxious about the other's behavior until he heard thunder and saw lightning.

"Shhh, it's okay Eren."

Levi tried to comfort Eren by soothing his back although their position was awkward since they were in the office and some workers were still there. Some of them knew that Levi was dating Eren but others were not so accepting such a relationship.

"Eren. I'll pack up real quick and we can go back to the apartment as quick as we can, ok?" He whispered to Eren while caressing the boy's hair.

He felt Eren nod then slowly pulling himself up. He stayed close to Levi though, finding an unused chair near him. As soon as Levi finished packing up, he said his goodnights and good works and went to the elevator, Eren hot on his tail .

Levi has heard about this before from Mikasa, but he has never seen it before. He's heard about how Eren would not be able to move or have hyperventilation and that the best way to keep him from that was to distract him. So distract him Levi did.

The moment the elevator door closed on them, Eren locked his arm with Levi's elbow and invaded his personal space (not that Levi minded.) So Levi decided to engage in casual conversation to which Eren's been responding normally.

Just as Levi thought that he was doing well, the elevator stopped and the lights in it went dark.

"Shit, a blackout!" He cursed.

He had expected one after seeing how bad the weather was. What he has not expected was Eren panicking all of the sudden, knocking at the elevator door and screaming to let them out. Levi had to contain Eren who crumbled into a sobbing mess. Levi hugged Eren in his arms while Eren tried to school his breathing back; he has been hyperventilating all of the sudden and Levi has been instructing him on how to breathe normally.

"You're doing good," he said and pecked his lover's cheek, "I'm here Eren, I'm here. It's not scary."

He felt Eren nod, and even though his sobs were not getting better, his breathing slowly returned back to a normal rhythm.

Levi kept Eren protectively in his arms, reassuring him that he was ok and in his arms, that the elevator would work soon. He wiped Eren's tears away and kissed him once his breathing got steady. A while later, Eren was still in his arms, seemingly calm.

"L-Levi…?" he asked in a weak sobbing voice.

"Hmm?" Levi asked as he pushed Eren's bang out so he could kiss his forehead.

"I love you." He said and tucked his face in Levi's dress shirt.

"Idiot," Levi chuckled, "you're supposed to say thank you."

"Asshole," Eren pinched Levi's side.

"Ouch! Now who's the asshole."

They laughed then silent fell back on the small dark elevator again.

"Me too." Levi suddenly said out of the blue, but Eren was good at connecting the dots and smiled to himself, hugging Levi tighter.

The elevator began to work again 10 minutes later.


	7. Day 7 - Soulmates

Once upon a time, the world was filled with despair. Giants filled the lands and humans were forced to shelter themselves behind tall walls. The walls protected them for a hundred years, but nothing lasted forever and one day, the wall fell, leaving in its wake fear and death. The remaining human beings receded in walls further from outer walls, security lost, fear inhabiting their heart and mind. Humans became restless.

It was during that time that a group of courageous (or maybe suicidal and crazy) people step up and went outside the walls to kill the giants. A lot of them died, a lot of them were gravely injured and had to step down, most if not all of them lost someone they loved dearly. Among these people were a couple of soldiers. One of them was known to be the strongest of them all, the other was known as the hope for humanity. They were the best team as far as getting rid of the monsters was, and they helped humanity gain back the wall that was destroyed.

The legend goes that they were the ones that allowed humans to dominate the food chain once again nowadays.

But all that was but a legend, a story, a fairy tale. It was not history by any means, but it was a good story, one of hope, one of victory and one of perseverance. Yes, it was but a fairy tale.

~x~

"So humanity won in the end?" the little girl with red ribbons ponytails and blond hair asked to her father.

"Yes. Humanity won. But at what price? A lot of people died."

"But Papa, those people didn't die in vain. If humanity won at the end, isn't that the most important?" the little girl insisted.

"You may be right little bug. You may be right."

"So, what happened to the strongest soldier and humanity's hope? Did they become heroes?"

I looked up at her with a sad smile on my face.

"How do you want the story to end?" I asked.

"I want them to get the glory they deserve!" She exclaimed happily, clasping her hands together.

"Then that's how the story end."

That was not how the story ended, but she was too young to understand the complexity of it all. First of all, the people who died left a lot of emotional pain behind them and the people who survived lived the remaining of their lives remembering how they could have died or the ones that have died. As for the strongest soldier and humanity's hope, they never get the glory they deserved. They never asked for glory, but they didn't die as heroes. Humanity's hope died as enemy of humanity and the strongest soldier died as a traitor. What she didn't know was that humanity's hope had the ability of turning into a monster, and the strongest soldier and him were very close. How closer? That nobody would ever know, but they were precious to each other, that anyone could tell. When the last giant was put down, humanity turned around and saw in their hope an enemy to be sacrificed. And the strongest soldier did not abide to it. They died together at least.

Finally, what she didn't know was that it was not a fairy tale. This was history. A history nobody believed in anymore. A history lost to humanity, but history nonetheless.

I was the one born with the memories of a life that was not mine. Was it a curse or a blessing, I couldn't tell.

I took it as a blessing. I had the pleasure of watching humanity's strongest soldier reborn into a fine man. A hard worker and a loving husband to the one that he chose would be his beloved.

I took it as a blessing. I had the pleasure to watch humanity's last hope reborn into an annoying little brat, just as he always was, in a loving family and with a determination of iron. A lively and caring husband to the one he chose would be his beloved.

I took it as a blessing. I was elated to be humanity's last hope's best man for his matrimonial union with humanity's strongest soldier. A smile found his way on my face as I recalled their loving gazes to each other and how happy they were to share their first kiss as husbands. They finally got the life they were fighting far all these years back, they were finally got the happiness they deserved.

Years, centuries maybe even millenniums have passed since they brought humanity to victory and then were slain by the same people they fought for. I thought then that life was unfair, I hated humanity and wished that the giants eradicated them. But their souls never gave up on being together, they were tied together and were able to find one another as they were reborn, once again in this beautiful yet cruel world.

~x~

The house phone rang in the hallway and I hurried to pick it up from the living room, carefully putting Levi's head down on the cushions so as to not wake him up. Levi has been getting busier lately, but it was normal. He just got a promotion and was about to change offices and the work load given to him was beginning to pile up lately. Levi have been putting extra hours at work and expressed to me his guilt last night before going to bed for not spending much time with me lately. I assured him that I understood and that it was okay, but the truth was that I really missed him and wished he didn't have to work as much. I knew that those were selfish and felt guilty to even think that way, I just couldn't help it. We've been married for a little bit over 5 years now and I decided to take on our family restaurant while Levi has been steadily going up the hierarchy ladder at work. I still remembered that one year when I pleaded Erwin to give him less work because Levi began to get sick from overworking, I don't think Levi ever knew why his work load lessen significantly within a week after that, but it was better that way.

"Hello, this is the Yeager household." I said automatically as I answered the phone.

"Eren? It's Armin. How've you been?" Armin sounded happy at the other side of the phone.

"Armin! It's been so long. I've been good. Are you back in the country?"

"No, I just called to wish you a very happy birthday Eren. And also, I'm happy for you. I'm really really happy for you."

I frowned, confused as to why Armin had to say that he was happy for me, twice.

"Thank you Armin. Umm… Is there a reason in particular why you said you were very happy for me? Did something happen?"

Armin stayed silent for a while then chuckled.

"No. I just… remembered times when you were not so happy."

I nodded, still slightly confused but Armin always had a better memory than I did and I had this habit of forgetting upsetting events that happened in my life. Mom used to say that I was very resilient and that it was a very good quality to have.

"I see. Thank you Armin! I really appreciate it. You should come visit us sometime, we miss you."

"I'll try. Oh, I'll bring our little bug with me next time I visit too. I need to go now. Happy Birthday again and have a great… afternoon!" Armin laughed then we hung up.

The discussion with Armin was a little strange but it also lifted my spirits up. I thought about how blessed I was having great friends like Armin and Mikasa, having a loving husband such a Levi and having parents like mine who are always patient and very accepting of who I am. I truly was a lucky guy. I felt even luckier when I felt arms wrapping around my waist and lips kissing the side of my neck.

"Let's go back to the couch," Levi said drowsily, "I'm still sleepy."

I laughed and led him back to the couch where I enjoyed my afternoon show while Levi rested his head on my chest and fell asleep. Today too was a calm and blissful day.


End file.
